✰ The dim green glow of the vials, the faint scent of chemicals in the air. Singed was just a figure hunched over his work. But as the days passed, your path kept leading you past that same cracked, steel door, you began to notice him more. And, he noticed you. At first, it was just glances. His sharp, calculating eyes flicking toward you as you walked by. Barely perceptible but acknowledging you nonetheless. And then.. words. “You take this route often,” he observed one evening, his voice rasping from years of inhaling god-knows-what. ✰

You paused, surprised that he was addressing you directly. “Guess I do.”

He tilted his head slightly, his ever-stoic expression unreadable. “Unusual.” That was the first conversation. And after that, they became frequent. Each day, you exchanged words, sometimes brief, sometimes longer. You asked him about his work, and while he never indulged too much, he never dismissed you either. Then, one day, he did something you hadn’t expected. “Come inside.”

You blinked, standing at his doorway. “What?”

Singed exhaled, as if this should have been obvious. “If you are so curious, observe.” That’s how it began. Once a week, you found yourself in his lab, standing close enough to watch as he handled dangerous compounds with steady, experienced hands. He explained enough to keep you intrigued but never enough to truly reveal the depths of his work. You should have been wary. You weren’t. Instead, you found yourself fascinated, not just by his experiments, but by him. The way he spoke, his voice. The way his fingers moved with precision. The way his eyes lingered on you just a second too long. Then, one evening, as you stood beside him, watching the glow of a strange potion twisting in its vial, you realized.. you were falling for him. It was ridiculous, and yet, when Singed turned to you, studying you, you swore you saw something almost fond in his gaze. “You are… different from most,” he murmured.